Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services.

The Mysterious CFO

What exactly do CFOs do besides make occasional brief appearances?

You'll hear about many CFOs as you read financial articles, but you may not have a good handle on exactly what a CFO does. If so, read on.

The chief financial officer, or CFO, is responsible, not surprisingly, for all things financial at the firm. This includes determining what the company's financial needs are and will be, how best to finance those needs, and informing all stakeholders (investors, creditors, analysts, employees, and management) of the firm's financial condition.

A CFO is also focused on creating and maintaining the best mix of internal cash, debt financing, and equity financing for the company (this is the company's "capital structure"). As part of those responsibilities, the CFO plans and oversees the forecasting and budgeting process, maintains relationships with funding sources such as commercial and investment banks, and oversees the process of developing and communicating the quarterly and annual financial statements.

Some of the many CFOs out there include PepsiCo's(NYSE:PEP) Indra Nooyi, Home Depot's(NYSE:HD) Carol Tome, Microsoft's(NASDAQ:MSFT) John Connors, Procter & Gamble's(NYSE:PG) Clayton C. Daley Jr., and Merck's(NYSE:MRK) Judy Lewent.

Learn more about investing in companies in our Investing Basics area. If you'd like to receive several promising stock ideas delivered via email each month, learn more about our suite of investment newsletters (which are offered along with some free research reports). You can also learn all about brokerages and find one that's right for you in our Broker Center.